Schaefer's complete game shutout leads Edwardsville to state finals

JOLIET - Grant Schaefer didn’t need much help offensively.

He had held the Hampshire Whip-Purs in check all game long. However, the Edwardsville Tigers pitcher required some defensive assistance through various points in the game and especially in the seventh and final inning.

Trailing by two runs, Matthew Jachec drew a leadoff walk for the Whip-Purs. Next up was Gavin Kriegel who lined a pitch to right field and it had appeared they were in business with two aboard and no outs.

Blake Burris had other ideas.

He gathered the ball in shallow right field, fired a bullet to Drake Westcott at first base and managed to throw out Kriegel as he dove in head first, but was too late.

“It was a hard-hit ball right off the bat, and I knew it was going to land in front of me,” Burris said. I ran in as hard as I could and tried to get an attempt to get him out. Drake made a great stretch. I was just trying to get another out for my pitcher.”

Three batters later with runners on the corners, Schaefer struck out his counterpart, Kevin Nespor to seal a 2-0 complete game shutout for Edwardsville over Hampshire in the Class 4A state semifinals at Route 66 Stadium in Joliet.

Schaefer gave up three hits and struck out three batters while walking two plus hitting another one. He finishes the season with an 8-1 record and 1.67 E.R.A.

“This is the biggest game I’ve ever pitched in my life, so it took me a minute to get in a groove, but once I did it was fine from there,” Schaefer said. “We did what we needed to do. Logan Cromer had a hell of a play. Hayden [Moore] had a bunch of line drives and made good reads. Obviously, Blake had a terrific play. All around, everybody was solid. That’s what we do.”

Edwardsville (36-5) will take on St. Charles North (29-10), who defeated St. Rita, the No. 1 team in the state, 6-4 in the other semifinal. First pitch is scheduled for today at 5 p.m.

“Grant had a vision displayed at our Senior Day. Everybody talked about what’s their favorite moment. He said ‘my moment hasn’t happened yet,’” Edwardsville head coach Tim Funkhouser said. “That told me he had something along the way and sure enough, this is the topper for him. He went out with a bang.”

Hampshire (22-15) won’t get the trophy they came for in their first-ever appearance in the semifinals but will face St. Rita in the third-place game at 3 p.m. The Whip-Purs have been in several come-from-behind situations all season long, and if Burris wasn’t as alert, they very possibly might have completed another turnaround.

“All year we’ve been battling back. It’s been a cool story and a cool thing to experience. We were believing,” Hampshire head coach Frank Simoncelli said. “The kid made a good play. He threw a rocket to first. I haven’t seen that a whole lot in my career. It was a game-saver. I think if that doesn’t happen we would have gotten that, come back. We left it all out there, and that’s all you can ask for from a player.”

The Whip-Purs struck out three times, but collected three hits and had difficulty figuring out Schaefer due in some part to his use of off-speed pitches according to Jachec.

“We’re a fastball hitting team. We’ve seen a lot of fastballs and hit them. This guy kept pounding curveballs inside and low,” Jachec said.”

“Early on I didn’t have full command of my off-speed, so I was looking fastball, but as the game played on I was starting to get a better feel of the slider and curveball,” Schaefer said. I was throwing low and away changeups to the lefties and still being able to look at the fastball.”

The Tigers lineup got on the board early.

In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff hitter, Hayden Moore was hit by a pitch then stole second and advanced to third base on a groundout by Burris. Westcott then lofted a fly ball to left field deep enough for Moore to score on a sacrifice fly giving Edwardsville a 1-0 lead.

“We’re trying to do the things to make us win in the end,” Moore said. “If can we keep getting on base and make things happen with speed up at the top and Drake behind us hitting it’s hard to stop.”

In the next inning, Josh Ohl led off with a single and then stole second base. Two batters later, the catcher, Dalton Wallace knocked an RBI single to left scoring Ohl making it 2-0.

The Tigers finished with three hits off Nespor, who tossed a decent outing as well.

“Based on what happened in the first two innings I knew I wasn’t going to let that happen again,” Nespor said. I try to get ahead with every hitter and attack the zone as much as possible. I knew if I kept it to where it was, we would have a good chance at winning the game.”

“We got some guys with some power and speed, defense, and obviously with the pitching that we’ve had. That’s been our strengths. Depth and ability to play in different ways,” Funkhouser said.

Burris’ web gem in the seventh wasn’t the only key out for Schaefer.

Ohl caught a line drive off the bat of Nicholas Sladek and threw out Krajecki at first base to complete a double play, which helped set the tone early and settle down Schaefer.

In the top of the third, Hampshire came close to scoring with Krajecki at third base. Wallace blocked a pitch in the dirt that bounced away to the first base side while Krajecki broke for home plate. Wallace retrieved the ball, tossed it to Schaefer, who tagged out a sliding Krajecki to preserve the shutout.

Edwardsville will be going for their third state championship in school history having previously won in 1990 and 1998. This is the sixth appearance in the state championship with second place finishes in 1991, 2002, and 2017.

It’ll also be a benchmark opportunity for Funkhouser as well. A victory in the championship game will give him win No — 700 in his coaching career.

Westcott was a freshman back in 2017 when the Tigers lost 6-4 to Crystal Lake South in the state championship. Having now received another opportunity to take it all, he’s confident Edwardsville won’t fall short this time around.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” Westcott said. “I came down here freshman year, and we ended up getting second. Now we’re back, and this time we’re not going to get second. It's kind of the same mentality, do everything the same, play every inning and get the job done.”

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